Federation scholar joins international advisory board for major Norwegian research project

A Federation University researcher has been appointed to the International Advisory Board for a landmark Norwegian reconciliation project, bringing an Australian Indigenous perspective to the global conversation. 

Professor Emma-Jaye Gavin, a Garrwa scholar, Deputy Director of Indigenous Global Engagement and Australia's inaugural Professor of Indigenous Truth-Telling Research at the Australian National Centre for Reconciliation, Truth and Justice (NCRTJ), will lend her expertise to the three-year research initiative, Knowledge for Reconciliation: Truth and Contestation in the Aftermath of the Norwegian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (RECON). 

The project, funded by the Research Council of Norway, aims to explore the complex ways in which the sharing of knowledge about historical injustices contributes to reconciliation and social change. 

Professor Gavin's appointment underscores the growing international collaboration among reconciliation researchers and centres. The project has been awarded  $1.7 million and will be guided by a reference group comprising South Sámi representatives and leading scholars in the field. 

Led by Professor Inger Skjelsbæk of the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), the interdisciplinary team – comprising PRIO's Helga Malmin Binningsbø and Karin Dyrstad of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, as well as a PhD student – will commence work in January 2026. 

RECON will focus specifically on the South Sámi region following the delivery of Norway's Truth and Reconciliation Commission's final report in 2023. The research will critically examine how public understanding of colonial and assimilation histories influences reconciliation efforts. 

Sámi peoples are Indigenous to the northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Kola Peninsula in Russia. 

Professor Gavin says she is excited to learn more about how Sámi truth and reconciliation are addressed across the different countries where Sámi people reside. 

"Sámi experiences are likely to be quite different. Some Sámi communities have had truth commissions, while others have not. Some states offer greater rights and recognition than others. Learning about these variations and their processes is important — it's similar to how Australian states and territories are all at different stages of truth-telling, or have not begun at all," she said. 

Professor Gavin says truth and reconciliation are as important now as they have ever been.   

"After The Voice, there were a few prominent scholars who said reconciliation is dead. I strongly disagree, and now more than ever, we must come together for truth, and we must reconcile because we can't keep having these same experiences," she said. 

"This is why I'm so interested in First Nations transnational solidarity. Our experiences all occurred at different times, but our experiences after the fact are the same.  

"For Sámi peoples, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand, First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples in Canada, First Nations peoples in the United States and Native Hawaiians, these patterns of poor mental health, suicide, health outcomes, education outcomes and incarceration are almost copy-pasted across contexts — all stemming from the impacts of colonisation.  

"Across each of these nations, colonisation disrupted governance systems, severed cultural practices, suppressed languages, removed children and imposed discriminatory policies that continue to shape contemporary life. The outcomes we see today are not coincidental or isolated; they are the predictable consequences of historical and ongoing colonial structures.  

"Despite the geographic distance between our communities, the parallels are striking — which is why truth-telling, recognition and Indigenous-led healing are so essential. Without addressing those shared root causes, we will keep seeing the same patterns repeat across generations. 

"While these gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous outcomes persist globally, we cannot pause the work of truth-telling — and we cannot have genuine reconciliation without truth." 

The project will include in-depth interviews and focus groups with minority and majority communities, classroom-based field experiments with upper secondary students and a new online learning module on Sámi history and identity. 

"As my work moves more strongly into the international space, it's quite affirming to have this work recognised and to be asked to sit on such an incredible advisory board with some really esteemed individuals. It's a real honour and I'm incredibly grateful that they have tapped me on the shoulder for this." 

The team aims to develop a deeper understanding of how truth-telling, education and memory intersect to promote reconciliation. Findings are expected to inform how governments and institutions worldwide can design more effective reconciliation initiatives. 

Professor Andrew Gunstone, Associate Deputy Vice-Chancellor Reconciliation and Executive Director of the NCRTJ, said the appointment is a well-deserved recognition of Professor Gavin's outstanding international leadership and transformational research across truth and reconciliation. 

"I warmly congratulate Professor Gavin on her appointment - it's a well-deserved recognition of Professor Gavin's outstanding international leadership and transformational research across truth and reconciliation," Professor Gunstone said. 

"It will also further strengthen the National Centre for Reconciliation, Truth, and Justice's international engagements, which Professor Gavin leads in her role of Deputy Director Indigenous Global Engagement." 

The National Centre for Reconciliation, Truth, and Justice is Australia's leading academic think-tank on reconciliation. More information about the National Centre can be found on this webpage or by following the centre on LinkedIn